1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is in the technical field of sporting equipment. More particularly, the present invention is in the technical field of alpine ski equipment and relates to a ski pole having an adjustable basket.
2. Background of the Invention
Conventional ski poles have, at the proximity of the point of contact with the ground (snow), a fixed radius basket, which is usually a horizontal round disk that is perpendicular to the pole, and parallel to the ground, and offers floatation for the ski pole. Floatation is important so that the ski pole does not penetrate more than four or five inches into the snow, thus allowing the skier to rely on the pole for balance, weight-shifting during a directional-change (turn), or for pushing from a standing start. The degree of floatation that a basket offers greatly depends on its radius, thus a larger radius would offer greater floatation.
A drawback of a larger radius basket is that it creates more drag to the skier, both aerodynamically and dragging through the snow (between turns). Historically, the skier has had to commit to a certain fixed-radius basket prior to skiing, since the basket of a traditional ski pole is designed and manufactured in a fixed position with a fixed-radius surface area. Some secondary-market baskets have designed an adjusting feature that might only offer a marginally larger surface area, but could only be adjusted while the skier is standing still, and not instantaneously nor simultaneously.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,460,891 and 6,755,440 to Jones disclose a ski pole basket that articulates to accommodate different ski conditions. The snow engaging end of the shaft has an adjustable basket designed to prevent the tip of the ski pole from sinking into soft snow past a predetermined depth. The basket may be adjusted for differing snow conditions to provide greater surface area for engaging softer snow or less surface area to reduce wind resistance for use with hard snow conditions. The basket is created in two parts, an upper basket and a lower basket which is rotatable relative to the upper basket. When it is desirable to have less surface area, the lower basket may be rotated to be aligned with the upper basket. However, for conditions where more surface area is desired, the lower basket may be rotated to any desired position such as approximately 45 degrees so that the extensions of the lower basket can travel and are located within the area existing between the extensions of the upper basket. The rotation of the lower basket relative to the upper basket needs to be manually operated by the skier while the skier is standing still.
There is a need in the art to provide an adjustable ski basket which can be automatically operated while the skier is skiing.